Congresswoman who survived Jonestown blasts Nunes for calling impeachment inquiry a cult

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who survived the Jonestown massacre as a congressional staffer, on Thursday blasted Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a major ally of President Trump, for calling the impeachment inquiry a cult.

Speier suggested Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, “look elsewhere.”

Devin Nunes calling the Intelligence Committee’s fact-finding mission a cult is dispicable. I know about cults. Cults are led by maniacal narcissists who expect complete adoration and relinquishment of independent thought. I suggest Mr. Nunes look elsewhere.

— Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) October 31, 2019

The congresswoman survived five gunshot wounds in 1978 when her boss, then-Rep. Leo Ryan (D-Calif.), was assassinated in Guyana, right before cult leader Jim Jones convinced more than 900 people to ingest cyanide and end their lives.

{mosads}Speier’s post comes in response to Nunes’s comments on “The Ingraham Angle” on Fox News the night before that the Democrat’s inquiry has turned into a “cult.”

“So we go behind — we go into the basement every day and things leak out,” he said. “And it’s a bit like watching a cult. It’s become a cult.” 

The House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight and Reform committees have been holding closed-door hearings in which former and current Trump officials are testifying. The inquiry began after a whistleblower report detailed a phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president, in which Trump asks Ukraine to look into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.

The House plans to have its first floor vote on the inquiry Thursday.